You will never get well here."
"That's true, Mammy," said Mary, "but you know that I cannot leave my field
of work was until the Board of Missions says I may."
"That's right, but you have a furlough coming. I do hope we hear from the
Board soon."
In June, 1879, the letter came. Mary read it gladly. It told her that she
could come home for a year's vacation. It did not take Mary long to
pack. She left for Scotland on the next steamer. There were tears in her
eyes as she stood on the deck. There on the shore were her black friends
waving good-by to their white ma. They were crying, too.
"Come back again! Come back again! God bless you and keep you!" they said.
Mary waved to them.
"I will be back," she said. Mary loved Africa. She loved the people there,
but she knew if she wanted to get well she would have to go home. Then,
too, she was anxious to see her mother and sisters again.
The ocean trip did Mary much good. The cool ocean breezes blew the fever
away. It made her cheeks pink again. Every day she prayed for the people of
Africa. She prayed that she might go back again. She prayed that more
missionaries would be sent out to show these poor people the way to Heaven.
How happy Mary's mother and two sisters were to have her with them again!
And how happy Mary was to be with them! They could not hear enough about
Calabar.
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